2016
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Events
January
- January 6: Epiphany celebrations are held in Smyrna for the first time since 1922.
- January 6: Epiphany celebrations are held in the occupied city of Ammochostos, Cyprus, for the first time since 1974.
- January 10: Kyriakos Mitsotakis is elected leader of the New Democracy party.
- January 22: S&P raises Greece's credit rating to B- (from CCC+).
- January 27: PM Alexis Tsipras visits Israel and meets with PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
- January 28: Twenty-four migrants drowned off the Greek island of Samos near Turkey after their boat capsized.
February
- February 2: Greek academics and members of the Hellenic Olympic Committee sent a letter to put forward two Greek islanders from Lesvos (85 year-old Emilia Kamvysi and 40-year old fisherman Stratis Valiamos) and one American actress and activist (Susan Sarandon) as candidates for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, lauding their work to help alleviate the hardships of refugees reaching Greece's shores on their way to Europe. Because the Nobel Peace Prize must go to an individual or organization, the experts chose three individuals as representatives of the wider volunteer effort.
- February 4: Greece's largest private and public sector unions (GSEE and ADEDY) stage a general strike to protest against the government's planned pension reforms.
- February 7: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras begins two-day visit to Iran promoting a framework of cooperation between Greece and Iran.
- February 8: Values on the Athens Stock Market drop 7.87%.
- February 9: Four Bulgarian truck drivers smash through barriers set up by Greek truckers along the countries' shared border.
- February 8: 27 migrants died off the Turkish coast trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.
- February 11: A Super Puma helicopter of the Hellenic Navy crashes on the island of Kinaros, killing its three-member crew.
- February 13: 17-year old Emmanouil Karalis breaks the junior World indoor pole vault record with a jump of 5.53m.
- February 23: Farmers escalate their mobilization and closed the Stomio interchange off the Tempi Valley.
- February 25: Greece recalls its ambassador to Austria amid sharp divisions among EU states over the migrant crisis.
March
- March 3: Deputy Minister for Sports, Stavros Kontonis, calls off the 2016 Greek Football Cup season, citing numerous violent incidents that have plagued recent matches between football clubs. His statement came after the semi-final first leg between PAOK Salonika and Olympiakos was abandoned because of crowd violence. PAOK fans threw flares and clashed with riot police after their team was denied a penalty with Olympiakos leading 2-1.
- March 5: Emmanouil Karalis breaks his own junior World indoor pole vault record with 5.54m.
- March 29: EgyptAir flight MS181 is hijacked and diverted to Larnaca International Airport where, eventually, all the passengers are released and the hijacker surrenders.
April
- April 1: The Hellenic Parliament approves by a 169 - 107 vote a bill to allow illegal migrants to be returned to Turkey.
- April 4: Greek government officials say on first day of deportations 202 people were sent to Turkey aboard three ferries; none of those deported had applied for asylum.
- April 6: European Union officials pledge there would be “no automatic return” for the migrants before they are given a chance to apply for asylum. EU officials say they will only be able to process up to 50 cases a day. Greek officials say between 300 and 500 migrants continue to arrive from Turkey daily.
- April 16: Pope Francis visits the Moria detention camp on the island of Lesbos. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Jerome II, joined Pope Francis. The Vatican says the pope's trip is not a "direct" criticism of the EU-Turkey deportation deal, but is instead a purely humanitarian visit.
May
- May 9: The Hellenic Parliament approves an austerity package of pension and tax reforms.
- May 17: AEK defeat Olympiakos 2-1 to lift the Greek Football Cup.
- May 20: Emmanouil Karalis breaks the junior World pole vault record, in Ostrava, with a jump of 5.55m.
- May 22: The Democratic Rally wins the parliamentary elections in Cyprus with 30.68% of the vote. The elections were marked by a very high abstention rate (32.6% of all voters) and will see, for the first time, eight parties represented in the Cyprus House of Representatives including the far-right ELAM.
- May 27: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, arrives in Athens on an official state visit.
- May 29: Olympiakos forward, Alan Pulido, is kidnapped in his native town of Ciudad Victoria, Mexico.
- May 30: Alan Pulido is released unharmed by his captors.
- May 30: Olympiakos defeat Panathinaikos 82-81, after two overtime periods, to clinch the 2016 basketball championship.
June
- June 27: The General Index of the Athens Stock Exchange falls by 2.89% following the British referendum to leave the European Union.
July
- July 2: PM Alexis Tsipras begins a 5-day visit to the People's Republic of China.
- July 3: JetOil chairman, Kyriakos Mamidakis, is found dead in his home in an apparent suicide.
- July 16: Eight (8) Turkish military officers fly a Black Hawk helicopter to the town of Alexandroupoli a few minutes before noon local time. Hours later, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu asks Greece to extradite the men accusing them of being part of a failed military coup in Turkey.
- July 17: The Alexandroupoli prosecutor presses charges on the eight Turkish military officers for illegal entry in Greece.
- July 18 : Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in a phone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, expresses Greece's support to democracy, constitutional legitimacy and the elected government in Turkey.
- July 18: PM Alexis Tsipras meets with European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici to discuss Greece's debt. According to ANA/MPA, Moscovici states that, 'now was a time to leave the crisis and crisis management behind and enter a period of normality, stability, implementation and investments.'
August
- August 7: Anna Korakaki wins the first medal for Greece in the Rio Olympics, as she places third in the women's 10m air pistol event.
- August 9: Anna Korakaki wins the gold medal for Greece in the 25m pistol at the Rio Olympics. She becomes the first Greek athlete in more than a century to win two medals in the same Olympics.
- August 15: Gymnast Lefteris Petrounias wins gold for Greece, at the Rio Olympics, in the men's rings.
- August 16: Four people are killed when a speedboat collides, off the coast of Aegina, with a pleasure boat carrying 20 tourists.
- August 19: Katerina Stefanidi wins gold for Greece, at the Rio Olympics, in the women's pole vault with a 4.85m jump.
September
- September 6: Greece score three goals in the space of three minutes and defeat Gibraltar 4-1 in the qualifiers of the 2018 World Cup.
- September 20 A Hellenic Army Apache helicopter crashes off the coast of Chalkidiki. The two pilots manage to escape.
- September 20: 40-year old Tasos Tsioucharas is sentenced to life imprisonment + one year for the murder of his wife.
- September 28: Hrysopiyi Devetzi forfeits the medals that she won at the Osaka World Championships in 2007 and the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, after her samples tested positive for the controlled substance 'stanozolol' in a repeat doping test.
October
- October 4: After 42 years, the remains of 16 Greek soldiers, who died when their transport plane was shot down during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, were returned to their families in Greece.
- October 15: Dozens of aftershocks follow a 5.2 magnitude earthquake near Giannina.
November
- November 5: A new Greek cabinet is sworn in after a minor reshuffle designed to speed-up reforms that Athens has agreed to implement under its latest international bailout deal.
- November 15: Outgoing US president, Barack Obama, visits Greece and meets with PM Alexis Tsipras.
- November 19: A tremor, measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale, strikes near the city of Kilkis.
December
- December 1: Panathinaikos coach, Andrea Stramaccioni, is dismissed following some poor results.
- December 30: The body of the Greek ambassador to Brazil is found in the boot of a burnt out car.
Deaths
January
- January 6: Makis Psomiades, businessman - served as President for AEK FC
- January 7: Anna Synodinou, actress
February
- February 18: Pantelis Pantelidis, singer - died in a car crash
March
- March 1: Giorgos Tsakanikas, athlete (shot put, discus).
- March 5: Panagiotis Tetsis, painter, member of the Academy of Athens.
- March 24: Yiannis Kanakis, footballer.
April
- April 1: Tina Santorinaiou, Greek-American radio announcer.
- April 19: Gerasimos Arsenis, politician.
- April 27: Oscar Alvarez, footballer
May
- May 6: Stefanos Demiris, footballer
- May 8: Angela Greka, singer
July
- July 11: John Brademas, Greek-American politician
August
- August 23: Andreas Barkoulis, actor
October
- October 8: Stylianos Pattakos, member of Junta that ruled Greece from 1967 until 1974.
- October 9: Nadia Konstantopoulou, singer
November
- November 20: Kostis Stefanopoulos, politician, former President of Greece
December
- December 5: Petros Fyssoun, actor
- December 20: Makis Germanakos, football (soccer) referee
- December 25: George Michael, popsinger/songwriter